


Message in a Bottle

by BeccaAnne814



Series: Peter Quill x Reader Series [1]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Probably a curse word or two, mentions of death and blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:48:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21885271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeccaAnne814/pseuds/BeccaAnne814
Summary: Peter finds a message in a bottle floating in space and he’s instantly drawn to the woman who penned it.  Can he convince his friends to go looking for this mysterious woman, and if he does somehow find her, then what?
Relationships: Peter quill x reader - Relationship
Series: Peter Quill x Reader Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1576555
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Message in a Bottle

**Peter Quill x Reader**

**Summary** – Peter finds a message in a bottle floating in space and he’s instantly drawn to the woman who penned it. Can he convince his friends to go looking for this mysterious woman, and if he does somehow find her, then what? 

**Warnings** – Fluff, Angst…probably a curse word or two

**Word Count** – 4K

**Notes:** Parts 1 - 4 of 4

_ ** [Masterlist](https://beccaanne814.tumblr.com/post/174989754188/masterlist) ** _

[[MORE]]

"How much longer till you get those power distribution cells up and running?" Quill asked Rocket who was barely visible as he squeezed his furry little body into the crawl space above the lower deck.

"It'll be done when it's done," Rocket snarled before turning to Groot. "Put that away and help me, you big dumb idiot."

Throwing his hands up in surrender, Peter took a step back and let Rocket get back to work. He could probably get the cells fixed in half the time that stupid trash panda could, but Nova Prime had gifted him with a new helmet he wanted to try out.

Grabbing a suit, he quickly donned it and headed to the lower deck. He engaged the vacuum seal and activated his helmet. It operated almost exactly like his old one, but the Heads Up Display had a few new bells and whistles. The HUD was synced with his brain waves, so all he had to do was think about what information he needed and it was instantly available. As he looked out into the endless depths of space, he could get a visual readout on each star and the system it belonged to—down to the number of inhabitable planets and what species lived on each.

So caught up in his new toy, he didn't see the projectile coming straight for him until it had hit him square in the chest. Terrified that it was some type of missile, he activated his jet boots and propelled himself to safety before realizing that the mysterious object was heading straight for the Benatar and his friends. 

With no regard for his own safety, he propelled himself back to the small cylinder that was slowly spinning in circles after bouncing off of his chest. He reached out and carefully took hold of it. His heart was in his chest, and he'd yet to take a breath since he'd opted to put the safety of his crew above his own, but he was determined to keep his friends safe.

Adrenaline was coursing through his system as he began to inspect the object. It hadn't exploded on him yet—which he took as a good sign—but he still had no idea what it was. Turning it over in his hands, he saw a thin sliver of glass that allowed him to see within the cylinder. He couldn't be sure, but he thought it might be a rolled up piece of paper.

Deciding that it wasn't dangerous, he headed back to the ship to get a closer look. There was no one on the lower deck when he re-entered the Benatar, and he was secretly glad for that fact. He didn't know what he held in his hand, but for some reason he didn't want to share what he'd found until he knew for sure what it was.

Popping open the vacuum seal, he tipped the cylinder and let the paper fall into his hand. When he unrolled it and saw the feminine script filling the page a chill ran down his spine.

__________________

_My name is YN YLN, and I'm from the planet Erilmeo. As I write this letter, I'm not sure if anyone will ever read it. But that doesn't matter. I need to get this off my chest so I can try to find some peace._

_My entire family is gone, and I'm all alone. Our leaders are estimating that half of our world was decimated by the unknown force that hit our planet over a month ago, but I seem to be one of the few people that lost everyone I'd ever cared about._

_The world is in utter chaos right now—people are fighting in the marketplaces for what little food remains, and roving bands of miscreants are harassing those of us that don't have anyone left to protect us._

_This is why I know I have to leave. It's only a matter of time before they come after me, and they won't just want my stockpile of food and water. My father had a ship that he'd been working on for almost five years, and I just hope that it will get me as far away from my world as possible._

_I don't know where I'm going, but anywhere has to be better than home right now. I don't know why I'm writing this letter, or who I'm hoping will find it, but maybe someday somebody will. Maybe someday the world as I knew it will be restored and it'll be safe for me to return. Or maybe the person who's reading this will be someone like me—someone who's lost everything and is looking for a friend._

_It'll be just my luck that this letter will float through space for all eternity and no one will ever find it. . ._

_But maybe. . ._

__________________

Peter rolled up the letter and placed it back in the cylinder. This woman—this YN YLN—had written this letter over five years ago. He wondered if she'd made it off of Erilmeo, or if she knew that her wish had come true.

With a new sense of purpose, he jumped to his feet and started toward the steps leading up to the cockpit before he stopped. The power distribution cells probably weren't fixed yet, so it would be a while before they would be going anywhere.

Sitting back down, he tapped the earpiece that would activate his helmet. He wasn't sure how advanced the HUD was, but an idea had come to him that he had to try out. With a single thought, an image of Erilmeo popped up in his field of vision. The species that lived there were humanoid, and from what he'd gathered from the data his HUD had supplied him, they were a mostly peaceful race.

Taking a chance, he thought about YN YLN. Erilmeo must have uploaded all the information about their missing people after the Decimation because her name popped up immediately. Below her information was an updated listing of all her family and Peter was glad to see that they'd all been returned after their efforts on Earth a few weeks ago. But YN was still listed as missing.

Deactivating his helmet, Peter stared down at the message she'd shoved into a cylinder and thrown out into space for someone to find. He wasn't sure if she was still out there somewhere, but he felt like he owed it to her to find out for sure. If anything, her family deserved to know what had happened to her so they could go looking for her themselves if he couldn't find her.

Peter had no idea how he was going to convince his crew to go on this wild goose chase, but it wouldn't be the most outlandish thing they'd ever done—and it had been a long time since they all been on a mission together. For all he knew, this might be the most fun they'd have in while.

______________________

Author's Note: Thank you for reading Day 238 of my writing challenge. I hope you enjoyed it! I hadn't intended for this to become a two-part story, but once I got to the end, I realized I had some things to resolve. The planet Erilmeo does not exist in the Marvel universe. . .I made it up to serve my own purposes. I found this awesome name generator on Pinterest and I'm coming up with all kinds of new words! But I digress. . .Do you think he'll find her? Do you think she's already back home, or is she off somewhere roaming through space aimlessly? Or perhaps she's already met someone else. . .I guess we'll have to wait to see! I think I found a good prompt next month to continue this! I look forward to your comments, and if you enjoyed this story, please consider reblogging!

As the Benatar made it's final jump, the crew was met with a empty void of space before them.

"How sure are we that this new helmet the Nova gave Quill really works?" Rocket asked as he side-eyed Peter.

"It works," Peter fired back with a sneer.

Drax burst out laughing. "Nova Prime played a prank on Quill."

"No she didn't, you asshole." Fed up with their teasing, Peter unbuckled himself and rose to move closer to the window of the cockpit. Leaning one arm against the glass he peered into the blackness beyond them.

"I sense someone is great distress," Mantis quietly whispered as a frown pulled down the corners of her lips.

Peter turned around sharply as his eyes grew wide. "I knew it. YN is here somewhere, isn't she?"

Mantis shook her head. "I don't know who is in distress, but their pain is strong enough to reach me from far away."

Peter turned back to the window and engaged his helmet. The HUD scanned the seemingly empty space before zooming in on a ship far off in the distance. With a whoop, he returned to his seat and relayed the coordinates into the Benatar's navigational system. "Found her."

"500 Units says she looks like Taserface," Rocket whispered to Groot who had been too busy playing his video game to pay attention to what was going on around him.

"I heard that," Quill said without turning around. "And it doesn't matter if she's pretty—we're here to save her and take her back home."

"But you're hoping she's pretty," Drax added with a knowing nod.

Quill was saved from answering as the Benatar began to approach the other ship. As they'd grown closer, Mantis' expression had become more pained, so he knew they were headed in the right direction.

"So much pain," Mantis moaned. "There are so many people in pain."

Quill turned to instruct Rocket to ready the weapons, but he was already keying in the sequences. "This might get ugly, guys."

"We're used to ugly," Rocket reminded him.

The communication systems chirped with an incoming message, but Quill hesitated for a moment as he met the eyes of his crew before opening a line to the other ship. A woman's face filled the viewscreen, and for a brief moment, Quill was scared. She was covered in blood and had a blaster cradled in her arms.

"Who are you and what do you want?" the woman demanded.

Quill made a show of opening his coat to reveal his own blaster before responding. "We're the Guardians of Galaxy, and we're here to save a woman you have captured on that ship." When Rocket loudly cleared his throat, Quill added, "And any other hostages you might have."

"You're too late then," she responded with a sardonic laugh.

Quill's face paled. "You killed YN?"

The woman's face morphed into one of confusion. "What did you say?"

"YN YLN," Quill repeated. "The innocent woman you captured and killed."

Lowering her blaster, the woman started laughing. "I assure you, Mr. Guardian of the Galaxy, I'm far from dead."

Now it was Quill's turn to look confused. "Wait a second. You're YN?"

"I am," she confirmed. "But the real question is: Who are you and why are you looking for me?" 

Quill held up the cylinder with her note and YN's eyes grew wide. "I can't believe someone actually found that."

After a brief explanation of how Quill had come across her message, they disengaged communications so YN could leave the ship she'd been held hostage on to board the Benatar. She assured Quill and his crew that no one had been left alive, and she was more than happy to leave the ship floating through space as a warning to others that might want to capture and sell innocent people into slavery.

Once she'd cleaned herself up and changed out of her bloody clothes, YN was ready to finally have a decent meal with people that weren't trying to torture or maim her.

"How long had you been a captive on that ship?" Rocket asked.

YN shook her head as she swallowed a bite of food. "No clue—days, weeks—it all began to run together." She shrugged. "After a while, they grew complacent, so I waited for my opportunity and then I murdered them all."

Quill knew he shouldn't let himself get too attached to this woman, but he found himself slowly starting to fall in love with her. The fact that she'd ventured out on her own five years ago, coupled with the fact that she'd just single-handedly taken down an entire ship full of mercenaries made her the kind of woman he couldn't help but fall for.

"So, you don't know?" Mantis asked as a bright smile spread across her face.

"Know what?"

"That your wish came true," Mantis answered as she pointed to Rocket. "He and some others helped to bring us all back a few weeks ago. Your family is alive again."

YN's eyes instantly filled with tears. "That's not something to joke about."

"She's not joking," Quill assured her. "Other than Rocket, we were all dead." He paused for a moment as he snapped his fingers. "And just like that we were all instantly back where we'd been five years ago."

"My family is alive?" YN asked as she struggled to contain a sob.

"We can take you to them if that's what you'd like," Drax assured her.

Overcome with emotion, YN nodded.

Quill wanted her to stay with them, but he knew she'd want to go home to be with her family. That was all he'd ever wanted himself, so he couldn't hold it against her. But he wondered if after a while, she'd consider traveling with them for a bit. As he programmed the coordinates for Erilmeo into the navigational system, he promised himself that they'd stay in touch with YN. Fate had brought them together for a reason, and Peter was almost positive that he was meant to do more than just rescue her and reunite her with her family.

______________________

_Author's Note: Thank you for reading Day 268 of my writing challenge. I hope you enjoyed it! I really tried to tie this up with a neat bow, but dammit if I didn't leave this open for another part! I have no idea if I'm going to be able to fit in another part somewhere in the challenge, so this may be the end of the line for this one. . . What did you think of YN rescuing herself before the Guardians could get there? It's understandable that she'd want to go home, but do you think she'd eventually join the Guardians and help save other people like herself? Do you think a romance could bloom between her and Peter? I look forward to your comments, and if you enjoyed this story, please consider reblogging!_

The music in the club was blaring with a strong, steady beat that made Peter's head throb. He knew it was stupid to be sitting in a dark corner watching one of his exes dancing with someone new, but here he was. It wasn't that he had a thing for Bereet anymore, but he'd wanted to reconnect with someone—anyone—to take his mind off of YN. But Bereet seemed to be happy with someone new and he was left feeling even more alone than ever.

Since they'd dropped YN off with her family on Erilmeo he'd found himself checking the ship's communication systems on a daily basis hoping for word from her. He'd tried to tell himself that she was happy on her home planet and the last thing she wanted to do was spend her life roaming the galaxy with a bunch of misfits. 

But it didn't stop him from hoping. 

And hope could be a dangerous thing.

So he'd convinced his friends to go to Kitson under the guise of letting loose and having a little bit of fun. Everyone had been more than happy to go and they were all currently on the dance floor having a great time while he sat alone nursing a drink and wallowing in his own self-pity.

There had been a time when all he'd had to do was walk into an establishment like this and women would be falling all over themselves to be the one who got to go home with him. Now, he was lucky if a woman even noticed he was alive. He'd become pathetic and women could smell pathetic a mile away and avoided it like the plague.

Most days he was glad his life had changed, but it was days like this that he missed being out on his own living a carefree existence with no worries. Come tomorrow he'd wake up and realize that he was better off being a Guardian, but sitting off to himself watching everyone else having fun without him did nothing but make him feel sorry for himself.

Spotting Bereet in the club had seemed like a sign at first, but once she'd fallen into the arms of another man, Peter had realized hooking up with her would be the stupidest thing he could do. There had never been anything between two of them but sex—but she was familiar, and he needed something familiar at the moment. 

"I didn't take you for the kind of guy to sulk in a corner by himself."

At the sound of a female voice, Peter looked up from his drink. His eyes grew wide when he saw who had spoken. "YN?"

She smiled and pulled out a chair. "I sent a communication to the ship. Mantis told me where you guys were." Glancing over her shoulder, she nodded toward Bereet. "Old flame of yours?"

Peter let out a long, slow breath as he tried to figure out how to answer that question. "You know how you break up with someone and then they move on, but you don't?"

"You don't want them anymore, but it irks you that they've found someone new and you haven't?" she asked in lieu of an answer as her nose scrunched up.

"Exactly." Peter threw his head back in elation. It wasn't everyday that someone understood that feeling, but for some reason he'd known YN would.

Suddenly it hit Peter that YN was sitting right in front of him. Confused, his brow furrowed. "What are you doing here? I thought you were back home with your family?"

YN shrugged and gave him a half-smile. "That's a story for another day." She gestured toward the dance floor. "Want to go see if we can make your ex jealous?"

With a laugh Peter stood and offered her his hand. He couldn't care less what Bereet thought, and he was pretty sure that after a few minutes with YN in his arms, he'd forget his ex was even in the same room. It was a win-win situation either way he looked at it.

______________________

_Author's Note: Thank you for reading Day 334 of my writing challenge. I hope you enjoyed it! I finally found a few more prompts to finish this Miniseries! Peter seems pretty pathetic in this part, but we've all been there, right? It sucks watching someone else move on when you're stuck all by yourself, but thankfully Peter wasn't alone for too long! Were you surprised when YN showed up in the club? Why do you think she's there? Do you think she's going to stay? I guess we'll find out in three weeks! I look forward to your comments, and if you enjoyed this story, please consider reblogging!_

"So, why are you here again?" Rocket looked over his shoulder and gave YN a quizzical look.

Peter leaned forward in his seat and smacked the raccoon on the back of the head. "Shut up, Rocket." 

YN chuckled. "It's a valid question."

She took a deep breath and tried to figure out how to explain her reasons to them. It was still a bit of mystery even to her. All she knew was that life on Erilmeo wasn't what it used to be. She was thrilled to have her family back, but the world was different—she was different.

Her family had teased her constantly for going to her ship everyday to check the communication logs. Her mother thought she had a crush on Peter, but it was more than that. Or at least that's what she told herself. While it was true that Peter Quill was one of the most handsome men she'd ever met, he was also one of the most decent. 

She remembered how the men on Erilmeo had acted right after everyone had disappeared and it sickened her to see some of them pretending to be the upstanding family men they'd claimed to be before their true colors had been revealed. The same men that were gazing lovingly into their wives eyes and hoisting their kids onto their shoulders were the ones that had preyed on women like her, and they'd been one of the main reasons she'd left the planet in the first place.

But Peter wasn't like that. He'd found her message floating through space and he hadn't seen it as an opportunity to exploit a vulnerable woman, but rather the opposite. He'd traveled the galaxy in search of her so he could save her.

And he had.

She had no idea what would've happened to her—or what she would've become after she killed the mercenaries that had captured her. Meeting him and his crew had probably saved her life in more ways than one. It was that feeling that kept her going back to her ship day after day in the hopes that they'd contact her and ask her to join them.

In the five years she'd traveled through space alone, she'd wished for her family to return, and they had. But what she hadn't counted on was the fact that they had come back exactly as they had been, but she wasn't the same woman she'd been when they'd disappeared. Her life had changed more than she'd realized, and the longer she spent on Erilmeo, the more she knew it wasn't where she belonged anymore.

By the time she'd finally accepted that she'd never be happy on her home planet, her mother had come to the same conclusion.

"Your heart belongs to the stars now," her mother had told her as she handed YN a small bag of food. "Go find your new friends, but don't forget to call every now and then to tell me about your grand adventures."

"Are you sure about this?" 

Her mother sighed. "Your father and I want you to be happy. We always knew this planet wasn't big enough to hold you for long." She looked at the ship sitting in the yard behind the house. "He was building that for you all along—you just didn't know it."

With one final goodbye to her parents, YN had taken the bag of treats her mother had made for her and hadn't looked back. Not knowing where to look, she'd reached out to Peter and the Guardians. Thankfully she'd caught Mantis at the controls instead of Groot. In all her travels, she'd yet to master the language and could only imagine where her spotty translating skills would've sent her.

Walking into the club on Kitson had been the most nerve-wracking thing she'd ever done. But as soon as she'd seen Peter sitting in the corner looking as lost and alone as she'd felt all those months since she'd met him, she'd known she'd made the right choice.

But how to explain that all to him without sounding like an idiot?

"I got bored sitting at home," YN finally answered, earning her a nod and shrug from Rocket.

Peter cocked an eyebrow and YN knew she hadn't fooled him. But instead of calling her out, he smiled and dropped his head to hide the blush creeping up his neck.

"So, where to now?" she asked as she tried to change the subject. There would be plenty of time for her and Peter to figure out their feelings for one another, and for now she was enjoying the long looks and accidental touches they shared. She knew disaster could come their way at any time, but some things in life were worth waiting for.

** _~ The End ~_ **

______________________

_Author's Note: Thank you for reading Day 355 of my writing challenge. I hope you enjoyed it! I don't think Marvel has talked enough about how the Snap/Blip/Decimation has affected people. Five years is a long time, and people change. They move on, get remarried, and have completely different lives. And then one day out of the blue, all these people from their past show up and expect them to be exactly the same as they were five years ago. Did you like how the Reader's parents always knew she was meant for greater things? Do you think that helped her to finally make the decision to leave again? How long do you think it'll be before she and Peter finally admit they've got feelings for one another? How mad are you that I left it on a cliffhanger yet again!?! I look forward to your comments, and if you enjoyed this story, please consider reblogging!_


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